98.8 good enough?

[PrinceSandwich]

Quote:
What about a still air? That's what mine is.

 

[Liamm_1]

We're trying to hatch some Trader Joe's fertile eggs in a homemade incubator with a water heater thermostat. The thermostat works well at keeping the temp no higher than 102 (although had a problem in the beginning, temps spiked to 103/105 twice), but the temp drops to about 94 before kicking back on. First time building an incubator, first time trying to hatch eggs. Any chance we'll get any out of 24? It's a science experiment for my son. Using a fan inside by the way...

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
94 to 102 would put the internal egg temp at about 98. They should hatch but about 2 days late. The spikes are probably fine.
Read this page http://cmfarm.us/WHTincubator.html an watch the second video. It will help you get that water heater thermostat to work better.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
What about a still air? That's what mine is.

Still air incubators are complicated. http://cmfarm.us/stillair.html

The ideal temp for a foam still air incubator is 101 at the top of the egg. That's because the bottom of the egg will be much colder.

So to get the inside of the egg at 99.5 we end up at 101 at the top. So you could guess that below 98.5 would be to cold for still air an 104.5 would be the true to hot point but its really hard to say without running actual tests with a still air. The biggest thing you can do to help your hatches is to have a fan so I don't run tests on still air incubators.

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
94 to 102 would put the internal egg temp at about 98. They should hatch but about 2 days late. The spikes are probably fine.
Read this page http://cmfarm.us/WHTincubator.html an watch the second video. It will help you get that water heater thermostat to work better.

Boy, I sure hope you're right about that. Sure would be nice if this science experiment actually gets complete results lol
I'll try to dial in the thermostat a little better today. Thanks

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
I've had temps range up and down from 98. to 101 and still got a hatch. Don't worry about a point here and there. In my experience I've never gotten a stable temp or hum.% for the entire 21 days. Though I would use a digital from Incubator Warehouse or one like it and try to bring it up to 99.0 if you can.

Have I e-mailed you the article from Practical Poultry on hatching? If not send me your e-mail and I send it to you, or fax it if that can be done.

Wish you a great hatch.

Rancher

 

[PrinceSandwich]

Well, I did finally get my temp up to 99.5

And I just set 24 eggs ( Australorp, and mix breeds).
Thanks for the advice guys! I would still be interested in that article Rancher, my email is [email protected]
Thanks!

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Sorry got some one else ask and I thought it was you. Hope it's coming through ok.

rancher

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
94 to 102 would put the internal egg temp at about 98. They should hatch but about 2 days late. The spikes are probably fine.
Read this page http://cmfarm.us/WHTincubator.html an watch the second video. It will help you get that water heater thermostat to work better.

Who is "Trader Joe"?

Just FYI. A few of things I did wrong when I started.

1. I had the incubator in a high traffic area. When it should have been in a room with a temp between 70* and 80*.

2. the other is the instructions didn't say anything about the humidity and I had all kinds of advice so didn't know who to believe.

3. still airs are different then those with a fan.

4. thermometers aren't all the same and it can be tough so I got the digital like alot of people said and that helped. Ya gotta trust them too.

 

[valley ranch]

Have you candled the eggs yet?